SIVA WORLD

Far more greenery and biomass composes my living environment now than any time previously, in what I used to call the 'Dying Realms' or the 'Realm of the Dead' in which I was born (the city known as Saint Joseph). San Jose was the first capital of California, and has become the paved bedroom community for its neighboring Silicon Valley. It is at the south point of the San Francisco Bay beneath the fumes and floods of Alviso and north of the olfactory escapade of Gilroy, in the Valley of Saint Claire, the Patron Saint of Television. My family watched Milton Berle and Lucille Ball, and the few remnant orchards in that once world-renowned agricultural region dwindle and by and large become replaced by homes, pavement and shopping malls.

A benefit of living in the ArkaotikA Museum Castle, the centerpiece of a park-like farmstead a few hours north of San Jose, is that more often than not our waking sounds are the PLOP!-scramble-scratch-run of fluffy grey squirrels who make their home in the trees and use the roof of this Victorian house of seven gables for their landing field on the way to locales otherwise unreachable but by the less secure and more tedious terrestrial route. They are furtive, intense beauties, with distinct social boundaries, reinforced with the occasional squinching, and raucus, cat-like face-offs. Their tails are immense and long, and their fur looks dense and soft. At first they sound like birds, but their raspy, repeated, laughing warnings (REH-Reh-reh-re-ruh; REH-Reh-reh-re-ruh) are reminiscent of Meredith's Penguin squawks in "Batman". They squabble when not chasing one another around and around and up and down while planting and eating the nuts and seeds just outside the windows.

Not only are they larger than most birds living in these parts, but they have a mass and energy which no local bird could match and with which not even the speediest of our local possums could keep up. The little hawks which float about during the daytime, and the barn owls which swoop about in the night might rival them for speed on a dive, but it is unlikely adults ever tangle with one another. I haven't seen a raccoon in this Sonoma County unincorporated land for at least a year now, and there is no end in site for local development (the locals have assembled Forestville Planning Association with elections that are imminent, and probably township is just down the road as the population blooms and Highway 116 is being widened to make room for more lanes and correspondingly more casualties).

The delicate lace finery barely opaquing the windows, decorously adorned with realistic-looking vegetation, shields the sleepers on the second-floor little from Sunna's intrusive, magnificent light as She makes Her way in an arc visible out the window at the bed's foot. The occasional squawk from Jays or squeal from a family of local Hawks in nearby trees will certainly compete with any alarm!

The room has the occasional dust-bunny and cobweb, presents from our arachnid and canine friends who live with us. The bed is strewn all which-way, and slumberers nestle comforted by lacy beddings. A large curly black sleeper keeps an occasional eye out for rousing or arriving humans. She looks like a black sheep crossed with a terrier -- some water dog whose Mongolian heritage is now lost to fishing boats and Portuguese tales of tackle-grabbing and fish-chomping. We call her Sophie, the Doggess of Wisdom.
More often than not, my eyes first glimpse a gilded card of Kali on the west wall above the western altar. When the gilding is all that it reflects (off Her jewelry), it forms the shape of a drunken cartoon rabbit, set ablaze in Sunna's gleam, a mad crafty reflection.

Arriving consciousness in the usually cheery, sunbright yellow victorian interior of the ArkaotikA Museum Castle's bedroom, almost always settles first upon the arm or face of the glorious sri
catyananda, the Beloved One, the living embodiment of Kali, the Final Prophet, and Wish-Fulfilling Quim, known to the world as catherineyronwode .
Her sleeping form, nestled in amongst the soft ivory sheets and pillows, is almost always curled in an adorably-cuddlable position. Her delicious face the only visible part of her, framed by her long, beautiful hair.

On days of unified rhythms, we speak of our dreams and desires, then arise as one and head to the occasional shower and daily prayers. Kneeling upon our mat, we worship God, bowing thricely upon the floor. On Fridays, we inscribe a rose-coloured candle with our names, dress it with magical oils, and burn it on top of a honey jar the day long, sealing it with a kiss.

it's a pretty good life.
sometimes there's a cage-trap
with some old peanut butter
out by the big black-magic cabinet,
but it is now put up on a shelf with games.

we never go inside it when it's out.
many of my family went in the cage
and couldn't get out, then disappeared.

I hear owls screeching in the night [and
now, hawks the whole day through!].
lucky we've got the house to protect us,
or we'd be in for it. (whew!)

stories about Kitty Boy FloydThe Outlaw
(a monster from the garden)
are what we used to scare the kids
so they'd keep nearby -- that's what we'd
feared most; now all the kids are gone --
we hoped that the tall one was not feeding
the captives to Kitty Boy
(how horrible to contemplate!).

the tall one hasn't put out the puzzle-cage in
a long time. he probably figures that we've
all gone and started new lives in the fields.
last year we had a box of chocolate mints to chew on.
Jeri said the tall one must have forgotten them,
as he'd never have left them to us like that.
his heart isn't softening, even if he hasn't
moved all of us to the dangerous wild. Mini says
she's heard of gigantic birds that peck at your eyes,
and monster mice cousins twice-removed who walk on
their hind legs and bite boards in half.
we think they're legends.

most of the family has been taken outdoors now
and I'm trying to stay hidden, shifting between
the house and the office and grabbing what leftovers
I can find. the tall one has been leaving food around,
but I've not touched it, thinking it must be a trap. far better to hole up while the gettin's good!

small brown [pawprint]mouse in the castle (and grounds!)
Arkaotika
Ville of the Forest,
California 95436-9615

Old Table Contents (A Peek Into the Past)

[2/12/04] it supported a few books, a few periodicals, and some videocassettes:
a book catherine's daughter Althaea gave me for Yule: "Conjuring Spirits: Texts and Traditions of Medieval Ritual Magic" edited by Claire Fanger and featuring fabulous essays by such notables as Robert Mathiesen and Richard Kieckhefer;
a formerly 'blank' book bound in rough black: which I'm filling with occult symbolism, symbolic association descriptions, and diagrams;
several issues of "The New Yorker" which I am sifting through for news on how Bush's Intelligence appears to have failed the United States of America (no surprise) and led to an invasion of a country fable-makers are attempting to associate with either "WMDs" (Weapons of Mass Destruction -- none found) or The Qaeda (whose Osama Bin Laden is popularly associated with
9/11(/01)): NYorker issues: 5/12/03, 6/2/03, 8/11/03, 9/15/03, 10/20/03; and Issue #29 of "Alter Ego (/Illustrated)" (10/03);
and three videocassettes: 1) 'Monolith Monsters' (1957): NR, B/W, 1hr:18min, Starring: Grant Williams, Lola Albright, Les Tremayne, Phil Harvey, and Trevor Bardette; Screenplay by Norman Jolley and Robert M. Fresco; Directed by John Sherwood; 2) 'Curse of the Demon' (1957): NR, B/W, 81min, Starring: Dana Andrews, Peggy Cummins, Niall MacGinnis, Maurice Denham; Screenplay by Charles Bennett and Hal. E. Chester/Based on the story "Casting the Runes" by Montague R. James; 3) 'Totally Out of Control: Vehicles' [I can recommend "Totally Out of Control: Nature" as awesome, Vehicles I'm expecting to be more bloody/paramedic], Color, 52min, Exec. Producers: Coane/Fleiss, Co-Producer/Editor: Freedman, 2000 Rated?; Unopix Entertainment.
[6/16/04] four books, a bunch of periodicals, and some videocassettes: a book I've enjoyed looking through many times before bed, among the set of graphics-oriented texts: "The Dragon", by Francis Huxley -- lots of great photos of Dragon art!; "Book Chameleon: Yi King -- A New Version of the Favorite Book of Confucius", by Cecil Frederick Russell which builds on Crowley; and "Transcendance & Divine Passion: The Queen Mother of the West in Medieval China", by Suzanne E. Cahill.
several issues of "The New Yorker" with interesting articles: including
a review of Edith Grossman's new translation of Cervantes' "Don Quixote" by James Wood (12/22-12/29, 2003); one on Barbara Bocek, an Amnesty International country specialist for Guatemala who reported threats on her life by Ian Parker (1/26, 2004); one on Janet Conrad and her experiment(s) discovering the nature of neutrinos by K.C.Cole (6/2, 2003); one on the daughter of the 10th Panchen Lama and her extravagant lifestyle by Isabel Hilton (3/29, 2003); a review on Mel Gibson's "Passion" called "Nailed" by David Denby (3/2, 2004); a pair of reviews -- one of a book by Helen Fisher entitled "Why We Love: The Nature and Chemistry of Romantic Love" and a novella-length essay by Simon Blackburn called "Lust", both by Judith Thurman (2/16-2/23, 2004); an article called "Who Lied to Whom -- Why did the Administration endorse a forgery about Iraq's nuclear program?" by Seymour M. Hersh (3/31, 2003); a profile on Michael Moore by Larissa MacFaquhar (2/16-2/23, 2004); one on Ken Kesey called "The Prince of Possibility" by Robert Stone (6/14-6/21, 2004);
a couple of torn-out articles from "Newsweek":
an article on the Revelation of John of Patmos called "Revelation Revealed -- Beyond Fear: The Bible's last book is both terrifying and beautiful. But it ends with a message of hope" by Lisa Miller with Anne Underwood (great pics of art!; May 24, 2004); and one on Prince, the artist formerly known as The Artist Formerly Known As Prince (former SLAVE!), called "Party Like It's 2004" by Lorraine Ali (April 12, 2004);
and four videocassettes: 1) "Terminator 3: The Rise of the Machines" (YEAR?), which I intend to see after re-watching the first two films in the series, starring the CA State Governator (2003); 2) "Bram Stoker's 'Shadowbuilder'" (1998); 3) "FlixMix Volume 1: Boogeymen" (2001); and 4) Tim Burton's "The Nightmare Before Christmas" (1993?; a gift-trade!).
; and 3) "FlixMix Volume 1: Boogeymen".